If one didn't know any better, then they might assume that North Korea is one of the most lavish and wonderful nations in the entire world. The Washington Times has compiled this list of 11 instances (so far) that various media outlets in the United States have adulated the known dictatorial regime.

Most of them are focused on North Korea's "Princess" and the "Ivanka Trump of North Korea", otherwise known as Kim Yo-jong, who serves as the Director of North Korea's Propaganda and Agitation Department. Essentially her role is to upkeep the image of her brother, and supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. It should come as no surprise, then, that serving in this capacity has led to her being blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury Department for human rights abuses.

Rather than reporting on that, however, many news agencies have chosen to treat her as if she is an international celebrity who is, ". . . stealing the show at the Winter Olympics," according to CNN, and that, ". . . without ever speaking in public, Ms. Kim managed to outflank Mr. Trump’s envoy to the Olympics, Vice President Mike Pence, in the game of diplomatic image-making," according to the New York Times.

The New York Times isn't the only news organization that is commending the autocracy for its diplomacy, with Reuters going so far as to say that, "North Korea has emerged as the early favorite to grab one of the Winter Olympics’ most important medals: the diplomatic gold."

It seems to me that the United States, as well as the rest of the world, is being bamboozled by one of the most tyrannical governments in modern history. Certainly within the scope of extant governments, anyway. Let's not forget, this is the same country that in late 2017 had a defected soldier who was discovered to have anthrax antibodies in his system, which lead doctors to believe that he was vaccinated for anthrax. So I'm not sure admiring write-ups of a country that is presumably testing biological weapons, which are prohibited under international humanitarian law, is a good idea.

But I guess it should come as no surprise that many members of the media are falling prey to North Korea for literally just smiling and not even saying a word when you have personalities like NBC's Lester Holt giving them "cotton candy" coverage, which was thankfully criticized by viewers as being, ". . . sycophantic, decidedly uncritical and feeding 'propaganda.'" Not to mention the plethora of celebrities, like Rosie O'Donnell for instance, who are so enraged that Donald Trump is the President of the United States that they will post videos of themselves with a filter of pig ears and a pig nose, addressing Kim Jong-un as "sir" and kissing up to him.

This strange and sudden fetishization of North Korea and handling them with kid gloves is quite a strange phenomenon. I would absolutely say that it's un-American; but even more importantly than that, it's inhumane and is something that needs to end. Now.

Imagine being Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean defector with an incredible escape story:

At the age of 13, Seong-ho's family was barely surviving on roots and corn stalks (neither of which are very nutritious, by the way) and his family would often spend their days lying on the floor, hallucinating, too weak from malnourishment to even pick themselves up. This was one of the many realities faced by North Korean citizens during a famine that would kill two million people. His grandmother had died of hunger the year before. Teachers were too weak to teach. Students wouldn't even show up for school.

Seong-ho, as well as other villagers, began stealing coal from freight trains to barter for corn to feed his family. If a villager missed the train to steal coal, their family wouldn't eat for days on end. One night, when Seong-ho was collecting coal, he passed out from sheer hunger and exhaustion. When he came to, his left leg and arm had been cut off by the moving train. He was operated on, twice, at a local clinic, with no anesthesia and no blood transfusion.

In 2000, Seong-ho was able to enter China illegally. There, he obtained food and returned to North Korea to feed his family. He was caught by secret police and beaten for twenty days. It was then that he realized he would have to leave North Korea if he wanted any sort of future for himself. After nearly drowning crossing into China, splitting up with his younger brother, trekking through the jungles of Laos with three other defectors and no guide and eventually making it to Thailand, he was taken to South Korea's embassy in Bangkok where he was then sent to Seoul, received an artificial arm and leg and was reunited with his brother.

Imagine living through all of those things, being honored by the President of the United States for your courage, and then see various news agencies from around the world treat a literal Hell on Earth, that you were fortunate enough to escape from, as if it's just a misunderstood place that wouldn't so much as harm a fly.

Every single North Korean defector has a story that parallels Ji Seong-ho's. Stories full of horrific experiences. Stories full of things that we've only seen or heard about in Hollywood-produced horror films. Stories full of gruesome circumstances that we wouldn't wish on our worst enemy.

So before you laugh at Vice President Pence for being side-eyed by someone who has perpetrated human rights abuses or think that the Kim regime is gunning for the gold medal of diplomacy at the Winter Olympics, remember Ji Seong-ho. Hopefully his story will serve as a reminder that North Korea isn't some place to revere.